EXPERIME] 



bet: 



TER OF TRAINi: 



WILBUR HARRINGTON NORCROSS 

I! 



A DISSERTATION 

Submitted to the Board of University Studies of the Johns Hopkins 

University in conformity with the requirements for 

the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 

June, 1920 



1921 



Reprinted from The Journal of Comparative Psychology 
Vol. 1, No. 4, August, 1921 

EXPERIMENTS ON THE TRANSFER OF TRAINING 1 

WILBUR HARRINGTON NORCROSS 

From the Psychological Laboratory of the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, 

Maryland 

I. INTRODUCTION 

It has long been known that if an individual be given training 
("practice") in some operation which involves the musculature 
of one side of the body only, there will be an apparent improve- 
ment in the same or similar operations carried on through the 
corresponding musculature of the other side of the body, although 
this musculature has not been involved in the "practice." If, 
for example, the individual is given practice in operating a 
typewriter with the right hand only, and the practice is con- 
tinued until a considerable degree of improvement in speed and 
accuracy is attained, it will be expected that the individual will 
show now an improvement in the same respects in operating the 
machine with the left hand, as compared with his performance 
with the left hand before "practice," although only the right 
hand has been employed in the "practice" work. This apparent 
carrying over the "practice" effect from the one side of the body 
to the other is technically known as bilateral transfer of training. 

The phenomenon of bilateral transfer is first recorded as 
observed by Weber (28) and Fechner (9) in the ease with which 
an individual's unpracticed hand made letters similar to those 
made by his practiced hand. Volkmann (26) reported similar 
results in the transference of sensitivity to tactile impressions 
in distance discriminations. Scripture (20) noted that improve- 

1 The experimental work reported in this paper was done for the greater part 
at the Johns Hopkins University during the years 1914-1916, and completed at 
Dickinson College during the year 1917-1918. An extensive historical summary 
which had been prepared was lost, during the author's absence in the army, 
through no fault of his. In its present form, the paper was completed May 1, 
1920. 

317 

COMPARATIVE PSYCHOLOGY, VOL. 1, NO. 4 



318 WILBUR HARRINGTON NORCROSS 

ment in steadiness, strength and muscular control was trans- 
ferable bilaterally. Davis (6) reported the results of tests and 
practice in lungeing, and with dumbbells, tapping, dynamo- 
meter and ergograph; and from his data concludes that "the 
effects of exercise may be transferred to a greater or less degree 
from the parts practiced to other parts of the body. This 
transfer is greatest to symmetrical and closely related parts." 
Wissler and Richardson (32) concluded from data gathered by 
experiments with a hand dynamometer, that large transfer of 
training accrues to the unpracticed hand. "The accessory 
muscles of one side gained approximately as much from the 
exercise of the corresponding muscles of the opposite side as 
from the exercises of the fundamental muscles of the same side." 
Wallin (27) trained observers in monocular control of the illusive 
phases of reversible perspectives. The improvement that 
resulted from the training of one eye was shared by the untrained 
eye. 

Swift (22) concluded from his experiments in tossing two balls, 
that in the majority of cases the training of the right hand was 
effectively transferred to the left hand. In one case, in four 
days of practice the left hand excelled the attainments of the 
right hand previously practiced eleven days; the transfer being 
perhaps due to the "content already learned." Hill (11) found 
positive evidence of transfer of training from the practiced to the 
unpracticed hand in his experiments on mirror-drawing of a star. 

The phenomena observed have been given various tentative 
explanations, mostly in terms of physiological theories. The 
problem cannot, however, be divorced from the more general 
problem of transfer of training, which is included in the much 
debated topic of "formal discipline," which is the supposed 
training of abilities in one subject, study or direction, in such 
manner that the abilities may be applied effectively to other 
studies or in other directions. Under this topic belong the 
hypothetical "training of memory" and of other "faculties," 
and the "training of the mind" through the study of a subject 
such as Greek or mathematics in the hope of making thereby 
the mind more efficient in other work. 



GHfl 

TTnlversity 



EXPERIMENTS ON TRANSFER OF TRAINING 319 

On the subject of "formal discipline" or "transfer" in general, 
the investigations have been numerous and the literature is 
extensive. It is not necessary nor desirable in this report to 
give a comolete summary of the same. Only a few of the more 
striking examples will be mentioned here. 2 Bennett (2) reported 
transference of the effect of training the memory in learning 
poetry, to learning of rows of digits and lists of names; Ebert 
and Meumann (8) in a elaborate study of the influence of memory- 
training in learning nonsense-syllables, tested by memory work 
in numbers, poetry, optical designs and word pairs in German 
and Italian, reported in favor of effective influence of this special 
learning upon the tests; Dearborn (7) in repeating these tests 
with controls, obtained data from which he inferred that much 
of the improvement in the test is, in fact, to be considered as 
due to the special training. Pracker (10) reported that a course 
of training in memorizing a series of tones of varying intensities 
results in marked gains in memory tests in memory for poetry, 
colors (grays), pitch, geometrical figures and muscle movements; 
Winch (31) reported gain in ability to memorize history as a 
result of practice in memorizing poetry. Rail (16) found evi- 
dence of transfer of training resulting from miscellaneous memory 
work twenty minutes a day carried over to tests in memorizing 
"Evangeline" and nonsense syllables. Sleight (21) found trans- 
fer from memory training in poetry to memorizing of nonsense 
syllables; from training in memorizing tables to the memorizing 
of dates; and from training in memorizing prose to memorizing 
prose and names; Thorndike and Woodworth (23) reported 
transfer of improvement resulting from a training course in 
estimating areas in rectangles, of from ten to one hundred square 
centimeters in area, over to the estimating of areas of various 
sizes and shapes. Judd (12) in his investigation of the Miiller 
Lyer illusion under varied conditions, found evidence that the 
effect of the training in estimating the error of the illusion in 

5 For a very complete resume of the literature on the subject of Transfer, the 
reader is referred to Coover, Formal Discipline, Psychol. Rev. Mon., vol. xx, 
no. 3. Most of the bibliography presented in this report was read, as well as the 
work of the investigation done, before the monograph by Coover was read. 



320 WILBUR HARRINGTON NORCROSS 

one form of presentation is transferred to estimating the error 
in another form of presentation; Ruediger (17) found possible 
the transfer of general ideals, e.g., of neatness, from one school 
situation to another; Lewis (14) found in his study of the Miiller- 
Lyer illusion that after continued practice in one form, the 
illusion may be made to disappear, and when the illusion plate 
is subsequently presented in another form, the illusion will 
reappear, but may be overcome more quickly by a training course 
in auditory discrimination; Angel and Coover (1) found that 
the power of discrimination of brightness and color is increased, 
and that typewriting becomes speedier and more accurate, 
following a training course in card sorting. They found also 
that training in sorting cards under one set of conditions pro- 
duces an improvement in the sorting cards under different con- 
ditions. Pyle (15) and Saxby (19) found that training in the 
quick perception of numbers and in the observations of specified 
objects produced positive improvement of general observations: 
and that training in ideals of accuracy and neatness in one kind 
of work may be effective in temporary transfer of those ideals 
to other kinds of work. Coover (5), in experiments testing 
sensory discrimination, attention, muscular coordination, mem- 
ory, discrimination and choice, claimed full justification for 
stating that skill gained in specific exercises may be available 
for general use. 

II. EXPERIMENTS ON THE TRANSFER OF TRAINING 

The experimental work herein reported was conducted prin- 
cipally on bilateral transfer from one hand to the other, with 
subsidiary experiments designed to secure material for the inter- 
pretation of the bilateral effects. The apparatus consisted 
essentially of a Burroughs adding machine, subtractor model, 
ten column, motor driven. Certain devices described below 
were supplementary to this machine. The work was done in 
the "middle four" columns, the other columns being cut off. 
At the top of each column is a release button, pressing which 
releases any digit buttons depressed in that column, and makes 



EXPERIMENTS ON TRANSFER OF TRAINING 321 

possible the correction of an error, should such be detected 
before printing. At the right side of the keyboard of the machine 
is the error button, pressing which releases all the digit buttons 
depressed. The printing operation was accomplished by a single 
movement of pressing the print bar situated at the right hand 
of the keyboard. Instructions were that no attempt at cor- 
rection was to be made by the reactor after the number had 
been printed, but there were no restrictions set upon using the 
release buttons at the head of the digit columns, or of the error 
button prior to the printing operation. This feature of the 
manipulation of the machine was usually learned without 
difficulty. 

The adding machine presents a relatively simple problem to 
a novice. The keyboard is learned almost at a glance. One 
need not get lost looking for the proper "button" or "key," 
as is frequently the case with a beginner at the typewriter. The 
adding machine also makes it possible to work with either hand 
with almost identical movements. The only asymmetrical 
movement required in these experiments was that made by the 
left hand in pressing the print bar. This was a movement 
across the entire body, since the print bar was attached on the 
right side of the machine. The right hand could press the print 
bar by moving from the center of the machine to the right of 
the machine; not a cross body movement. 

Number-sheets as work units for the adding machine are of 
more uniform difficulty than word-lists for the typewriter, num- 
bers probably require a more uniform effort for recognition than 
do words. Accumulative memory products are also not so 
probable when number sheets are used as they are when word 
lists are used on a typewriter. 

The numbers on the work sheets comprise the "four-place" 
number addition system of the Johns Hopkins Psychological 
Laboratory, and will be printed separately later. These work- 
sheets consist of ninety four-place numbers, derived by a system 
such that no number shall have zero as a final digit, and with the 
distribution of the various digits such that each sheet is exactly 
as difficult as any other; and yet the numbers are so varied that 



322 WILBUR HARRINGTON NORCROSS 

there is no detectable memory complication in reading the sheets. 
For convenience in reading, the sheets were cut into work strips 
of forty-five four-place numbers each, since a list of ninety 
numbers is not easily handled on the work table. The totals 
in time and accuracy are, however, in the units of the whole 
work-sheet with the single exception, section 2, page 358, where 
the fastest third is considered. In this case, the unit is the 
work-strip, i.e., half the work sheet, having forty-five four-place 
numbers in it, on which unit the kymographic record was made. 

Since the ordinary work-table of the left side of the adding 
machine was unsuited to this test, a special one was provided. 
On a pair of upright rods, supported by heavy iron pedestals 
to keep them firm, a rectangular frame was placed around the 
machine at the height of, and inclined to the same angle as, 
the keyboard, and extending 12 inches on each side of the same. 
Sheets of aluminum were fastened to this frame, fitted tightly 
on each side of the machine at the height and angle of the key- 
board. On these aluminum sheets was fastened heavy card- 
board of neutral gray color, to prevent reflection. 

Around the machine was placed a screen covered with a dead 
black cloth so that no reflection from the sides of the room could 
reach the reactor. The keyboard and work-table were lighted 
by a 40-watt Mazda bulb, hanging immediately above the 
machine. Uniform conditions of lighting were thus maintained. 
The maximal speed of the adding machine was forty-five printing 
operations in thirty-one seconds. The machine was tested at 
irregular intervals throughout the course of the experiments and 
this speed was always maintained. 

Each reactor was given specific and uniform instructions, 
including illustrations of the manner of putting numbers into the 
machine. Any question asked was fully answered before the 
work began, but no practice was allowed prior to the test. Each 
reactor was told that he would be graded for speed and accuracy. 
No reactor was informed during the progress of the experiment 
as to his proficiency. A few of the reactors knew they had 
made errors, because they had seen that they had pressed the 
wrong digit button, but could not inhibit the movement to 



EXPERIMENTS ON TRANSFER OF TRAINING 323 

press the print bar in time to prevent printing the error. The 
totals were taken by the experimenter, the reactors doing the 
listing and printing only. By "listing" is meant setting on the 
keyboard of the adding machine the numbers of the work sheets. 
The time was measured by a split-second stop-watch. 

The work strips were fastened to the cardboard cover of the 
work table on the side opposite to the hand which was to be 
practiced. The "idle" hand was used by the reactor to follow 
the items of the work strips. 

The first day's work for each reactor (the "preliminary tests") 
consisted of an equal number of sheets to be listed by each hand. 
The first training series was usually nine or ten one hour periods, 
distributed over about three weeks, and but one hand was used 
on the machine in this practice period. A "semi-final" test 
was then given to each hand and usually this semi-final test 
was followed by a practice period for the "idle" hand of the 
previous training period. The series then concluded with a 
"final" test of each hand. This scheme was varied in some 
instances which will be noted in the proper places. 

After the first day's work (the preliminary test), the work 
strips were started on a four-minute "head-way;" i.e., the second 
strip was started four minutes after the starting of the first, 
the third was started four minutes after the starting of the 
second, and so on; consequently, as the time required for each 
strip decreased, the lengths of the rest-periods increased. In 
some few cases, towards the close of the training the work periods 
were a little less than half the total time of the day's series. 

The work of the several reactors may be grouped as follows: 
A: Simple listing, by which we mean reading the numbers 
from the work sheets and putting the numbers read into the 
machine. B : Observation , which means watching at close range 
other reactors working at simple listing under conditions described 
in section B. C: Auditory listing, when the reactors put into 
the machine numbers from the work sheets read to them by the 
experimenter. D: Number reading training, when, under con- 
dition detailed in section D, the reactors practiced reading the 
numbers of the work sheets but did not operate the machine. 



324 



WILBUR HARRINGTON NORCROSS 



E: Machine training, where reactors practiced on the machine 
but did not have work sheets. Detailed description of con- 
ditions of this group is given in section E. 

Section A. Simple listing. Six subjects, H., Sg., Lo., E v 
CL, Mc, worked at simple listing. Table 1 gives in condensed 
form the results of this work (Plates I-VI) . 

TABLE 1 

Improvement in simple listing 
Semi-final tests 



REACTORS 


PER CENT OF IMPROVE- ' 

MENT OP "WORKING 

HAND 


PER CENT OF IMPROVE- 
MENT OF IDLE HAND 


ORDER OF TE3TING HANDS 




Preliminary 


Semi-final 


H 


R. 16 
R. 41 
R. 25 
R. 40 
R. 50 
R. 25 


L. 14 
L. 32 
L. 20 
L. 48 
L. 29 
L. 26 


L. R. 
L. R. 
L. R. 
L. R. 
R. L. 
L. R. 


R. L. 
R. L. 
R. L. 
R. L. 
R. L. 
R. L. 


Sg 


Lo 


E 


CI 


Mc 







Final tests 




REACTORS 


PER CENT OF IMPROVE- 
MENT OF -WORKING 
HAND 


PER CENT OF IMPROVE- 
MENT OF IDLE HAND 


COMPARISON" 


H 


L. 20 
Not completed 

L. 5 

L. 16 
Not completed 

L. 13 


R. 3 

Not completed 

R. 2 

R. 10 
Not completed 

R. 7 


5* 


Sg 


5* 


Lo 


3t 
t 


E 

CI 


Mc 


5* 







* Number of days required by working hand following the semi-final test to 
equal record on semi-final test of hand previously working. 

t Unpracticed hand (L.) in semi-final test reached level requiring four days of 
practiced hand, and in three days reached level requiring eight days work of 
right hand to equal or surpass. 

| In two days the unpracticed hand (L.) reached level requiring practicing 
hand six days to reach. 



In every case the unpracticed hand improved over its former 
test from 14 per cent (H.) to 48 per cent (E.). In two instances 
the percentage of improvement in the unpracticed hand exceeds 
that of the practiced hand (E.), (Mc). After this semi-final 



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328 



WILBUR HARRINGTON NORCROSS 



test, four reactors continued the experiment, working the hand 
which was "idle" during previous training test. The results 
of this training appear with positive evidence for improvement 
in both hands. The percentages of improvement for the "idle" 



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hand range from (Lo.) 2 per cent while the working hand gained 
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decrease in the amount of time required to do a fixed amount 
of listing. 



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330 



WILBUR HARRINGTON NORCROSS 



Section B. Observation with training in number reading. 
There are two major processes in simple listing on an adding 
machine; (a) reading the numbers and (b) putting the numbers 
into the machine. The first of these processes is a common 
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by the semi-final trials of the unpracticed hands. To test the 
practice value of the number-reading process, reactors Li., P., 
N.j Wm., We. and F. (Plates VII-XII), were each given the regu- 
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:>:^2 WILBUR HARRINGTON NORCROSS 

The "observers" were seated beside the operator near enough 
the work sheet to read the numbers accurately and as rapidly 
as the operators. They were able also to observe the digit 
buttons as they were pressed by the operator. They were 
instructed to make note of any errors seen, and to report the 
same privately to the experimenter at the close of the period. 
A few errors were correctly reported by Wm., and P. N. and F. 
held in their hands a sensitive rubber bulb, connected by rubber 
tubing to a Marey tambour which controlled a stylus on a 
kymograph: and they were instructed to press the bulb gently 
when an error was noticed. The records show careful attention 
on the part of the observers and a high degree of accuracy as 
measured by the errors detected and recorded. It is possible 
that those observing did not attend to the reading of the numbers 
with the same degree of care as they would have exercised had 
they been operating the machine, but they did undoubtedly 
have considerable practice effect from the reading of the numbers. 
The sensitive bulb held in the hand to mark errors did not give 
any record on the kymograph which could be fairly interpreted 
as evidence of implicit practice of the fingers. 

Table 2 contains the number of hours of observation and the 
percentage gained in listing as shown by the semi-final test. 
In these cases there is a gain in speed ranging from 13 per cent 
(N., right) to 31 per cent (Wm., left). There must be taken 
into account, in appraising the value of these percentages of gain 
in speed, the order in which the hands were worked in the pre- 
liminary and semi-final tests. If the left hand is the first one 
worked in the preliminary test, then the right hand has the 
practice value of that period of working, and vice versa. If 
the hand working first in the preliminary test works last in 
the semi-final test (i.e., the order L. R., R. L.,) then that hand 
shares the advantage of the two practice periods of the other 
hand. Three of the six reactors worked in the order L. R., 
L. R., viz., reactor P., whose percentage of gain of each hand 
was practically the same, reactor Wm., whose left hand gained 
five per cent more than the right hand, and reactor We., whose 
right hand gained 8 per cent more than the left hand. The 



EXPERIMENTS ON TRANSFER OF TRAINING 



333 



cases working the order L. R., R. L., show the largest gain to 
have been made by the hand which worked first and last, sug- 
gesting the practice effect of the two working periods of the other 
hand as well as the preliminary period of its own. 



TABLE 2 



BEACTOB8 


HOURS 


PER CENT GAINED 


ORDER OP HANDS 




Right hand 


Left hand 


Preliminary 


Semi-final 


P 


9 
9 
9 
10 
9 
6* 


30 
13 
24 
26 
22 
25 


30 
23 
25 
31 
14 
29 


L. R. 
L. R. 
L. R. 
L. R. 
L. R. 
L. R. 


L. R. 


N 


R. L. 


F 


R. L. 


Wm 


L. R. 


We 


L. R. 


Li 


R. L. 







* In seven weeks. 



TABLE 3 



Total gain , 

Gain by observation. 

Gain by work 

Gain by transfer 



Working 
hand 



47 
25 

22 



Idle hand 



45 
24 

21 



Wm. 



Working 
hand 



47 
26 
21 



Idle hand 



43 
31 

12 



We. 



Working 
hand 



38 
22 
16 



Idle hand 



36 
14 

22 



Total gain 

Gain by observation 

Semi-final 

Intermediate , 



Left hand 



47 
23 
18 (working) 
6 (resting) 



Right hand 



40 
13 

19 (resting) 
9 (working) 



* Both hands were worked at simple listing after observation with semi-final, 
intermediate and final tests. 

Following the period of observation, four of those who had 
acted as observers continued the work in simple listing. The 
evidence of improvement to the "idle" hand in the results of 
their continued listing are seen in table 3. Reactors F., Wm., 
and We., worked only one hand after the period of observation 
and took the final test. Reactor N. worked each hand after the 



COMPARATIVE PSYCHOLOGY, VOL. 1, NO. 4 



334 



WILBUR HARRINGTON NORCROSS 



observation period with intermediate and final tests. Table 3 
shows the comparative results of work and observation. 

The relative value of observation as compared with practice 
is shown in table 4, presenting total percentage of improvement, 
and percentage of improvement during observation. These 
percentages of improvement and total improvement are based 
on the preliminary tests and are therefore absolutely comparable. 
Wm., and We., did not practice the left hand at all, the per- 
centages of total improvements of the left hands of these two 
reactors being due to observation and practice of the right hands. 
The left hand received only the preliminary, semi-final and final 
tests. In every case, except N. (right hand), the amount of im- 
provement during observation exceeded the amount of improve- 
ment following subsequent practice, indicating the value of the 
training in reading the numbers. 









TABLE i 


















Li. 


Po. 


X. 


F. 


Wm. 


We. 




R. 

37 
25 


L. 

37 
29 


R. 

45 
30 


L. 

49 
30 


R. 

40 
13 


L. 

47 
23 


R. 

45 
24 


L. 

47 
25 


R. 

47 
26 


L. 

43 
31 


R. 

38 
22 


L. 


Percentage of total im- 
provement 


36 


Percentage of improve- 
ment by observation . . 


14 



The mean gain in percentages in simple listing shown by the 
semi-final tests is: For the working hand (R) 32 § per cent; for 
the "idle" hand (L) 28| per cent, 

The mean gain in percentage by observation shown by semi- 
final tests is: For right hand 23+ per cent; for left hand 26f 
per cent. 

The mean percentages of gains of the right hand of six reactors 
working nine to ten days is only 9| per cent more than the mean 
percentage of gains of the right hands of the six reactors who 
observed them those nine to ten days; and the mean percentages 
of the "idle" hands of these same six reactors working at simple 
listing is 1J per cent more than the mean percentage of the gains 
of the left hands of the six reactors who acted as observers for 
those nine or ten periods of work. 



EXPERIMENTS ON TRANSFER OF TRAINING 



335 



Section C. Auditory listing. To give the hand practice in 
putting into the machine the numbers, and at the same time not 
train the number-reading process, reactors S., T., W., K. and 
C. (Plates XIII-XVII), after the regular preliminary tests, put 
the numbers into the machine as they were read to them by the 
experimenter. Care was taken not to read the numbers too rap- 



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idly, and also not to allow any rest between the numbers. The 
rule followed by the reader was to begin to read as soon as the 
print bar had been touched. The reactors were instructed to 
ask for a re-reading if the number was not clearly understood, 
and this was done in relatively few cases. Generally speaking, 
there was no difficulty experienced in reading the numbers clearly 



330 



WILBUR HARRINGTON NORCROSS 



and with sufficient speed to keep the reactors working regu- 
larly. The results of this auditory training and of the regular 
semi-final and final tests appear in table 5. 



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In four out of the five auditory listing cases, the idle made 
greater gains in the semi-final tests than did the working hand, 



EXPERIMENTS ON TRANSFER OF TRAINING 



337 



regardless of hand and order of working of hand in preliminary 
or semi-final test. In no case did the practice in the regular 
method of working the machine following the auditory listing 
result in as rapid work as that done in the auditory listing. In 
simple listing, there are present several minor processes which 
are absent in the process of auditory listing: i.e., (a) keeping 
one's place on the work sheet; (b) turning one's head to read the 
numbers; (c) turning back again to see the keyboard; (d) carry- 
ing the numbers read, back to the machine, and (e) identifying 
the digits read and the proper buttons to be pressed. After 
practice of considerable length, one may learn to read the entire 
number, i.e., the four digits, as a single group without separating 
the group into its individual parts: and the process of putting 

TABLE 5 
Showing percentage gains of auditory listing 



REACTORS 


NUMBER OF 

HOURS 
AUDITORY 


PER CENT GAINED 


ORDER OF "WORKING HAND 




Right hand 


Left hand 


Preliminary 


Semi-final 


S 


8 
9 
9 
9 
9 


36* 
49* 
8* 
29 
20* 


47 

37 

12 

17* 

34 


L. R. 
R. L. 
R. L. 
R. L. 
L. R. 


R. L. 


T 


R. L. 


W 


R. L. 


K 


R. L. 


C 


R. L. 







* Indicates hand working during auditory listing. 

those digits in the group into the machine may become a "group 
movement:" that is to say, while it will always require the press- 
ing of the various buttons, the attention is given to the whole 
set of necessary movements as one movement. It is as if the 
numbers at first were read and listed 1-4-7-3, but after consider- 
able practice, the reactor learns to read the numbers 1473, and 
his impulse to list them is one impulse for the four digits as of 
one number, 1473. This is a more marked characteristic of 
some reactors than of others. The reading of the numbers at 
first requires at least two or more glances. Reactor Pe. read 
the numbers as groups of digits and fisted them as groups. The 
number 1473 was read and listed 14-73, requiring two glances 
and two distinct operations. It is true that Pe. was more inclined 



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340 WILBUR HARRINGTON NORCROSS 

to this method than any other reactor, and yet it was character- 
istic of all the reactors in the beginning, with the exception of 
Lo., who had used the machine for a few hours some months 
prior to taking the preliminary test. Toward the end of the 
series, every reactor learned to read the number at one glance, 
only occasionally taking the second glance. The process of 
reading separate and individual digits became a process of 
reading a unified group of digits. It is probable that the process 
of listing is not so perfectly unified, because the practice periods 
did not extend over a sufficient time. Statements of the reactors 
would indicate that the listing was not a perfect "group move- 
ment," and the experimenter, who gave close observation to 
the work throughout, is of the opinion that even the best reactors 
did not attain more than partial unification of four-place listing. 
This was made evident by the arhythmic listing and by the 
frequent pauses and periods of confusion. In auditory listing, 
the process is simpler, for the elements noted above (a), (b), 
(c) and (d) are not present. Attention is not diverted from 
the keyboard. As soon as individual digits are heard, they are 
put into the machine, and after some practice, it is not uncom- 
mon for a reactor to have listed the third digit in a four-place 
number by the time the last digit of the number is read, i.e., 
the reactor is fisting only one digit behind the reader. In a 
limited period of practice, therefore, better time can be made 
in auditory listing than in simple listing, if the reader is clear 
voiced and reads with adequate speed. 

It is possible that the interference between auditory listing 
and simple listing accounts for the fact that in every case but 
one, the idle hand during the auditory listing made better per- 
centage of gain at the semi-final test than did the working hand 
of the training series. 

Following the auditory listing and semi-final test, practice 
in simple listing was given to the idle hand of the auditory series, 
with the results set forth in table 6, in which the percentage of 
gain is calculated upon the basis of the time of the preliminary 
tests. 



EXPERIMENTS ON TRANSFER OF TRAINING 



341 



The percentage of gain of the idle hand in the simple listing 
process is less than that made by the practiced hand in three 
out of five cases, equals it in one case, and surpasses it in one 
case. In all cases, the idle hand makes improvement ranging 
from 4 per cent (T., having only two hours practice) to 24 per 
cent, (W.). The gains of the practiced hand were from 4 per 
cent (reactor T., two hours) to 16 per cent, reactor W. 

Section D. Number reading without machine practice. To 
discover, if possible, the avenue of the so-called transfer, two 
reactors, R., and Ir. (Plates XVIII and XIX), were given the 
regular preliminary tests, and then, sitting at the machine, right 
hand on the work sheet to hold the place in the column of num- 
bers, in the regular position for working, they were directed to 
read each four-place number on the work sheet, looking at the 

TABLE 6 



REACTORS 


HOURS OF 
WORK 


PER CENT GAINED 


ORDER OF WORKING HAND 




Practiced hand 


Idle hand 


Preliminary 


Final 


s 


9 
2 
9 
6 
9 


13 L. 
4L. 
16 L. 
12 R. 
15 L. 


11 R. 

4R. 
24 R. 
10 L. 

8R. 


L. R. 
R. L. 
R. L. 
R. L. 
L. R. 


L. R. 


T 


L. R. 


W 


L. R. 


K 


R. L. 


C 


L. R. 







keyboard to identify each number without touching the buttons. 
This gave practice to the visual processes in the performance of 
the regular work of the machine, but gave no manual or digital 
practice. The regular number of sheets was done each day and 
timed as usual. It was, of course, impossible in this phase of the 
work, to check for accuracy. The reactors worked very faithfully 
and diligently, and the experimenter is of the opinion that the 
visual processes were used in this training series fully as much 
as in the regular operation of the machine. Each of the reactors 
used the lips in reading the numbers throughout the entire test, 
and in this training course, they seemed to accompany the 
recognition and location of the appropriate digit buttons with 
a characteristic nod of the head. The semi-final test in simple 



342 



WILBUR HARRINGTON NORCUoss 



listing followed this course of training in number loading. Table 
7 shows the results of this training. 

The practice in reading the numbers and locating them on 
the keyboard resulted in gains to both hands with both reactors. 
The hand which worked first in the preliminary and last in the 
semi-final tests, in both cases the right hand, made greater gains. 

Following this number reading training, the reactors took a 
final practice series in simple listing, the right hand working 
in each case, the results of which are given in table 8, percentages 
in which are based on preliminary time records, not on semi- 
final record. In both cases, there was improvement in both 
hands, the idle as well as the practiced hands. 

TABLE 7 





REACTORS 


HOURS OF NUM- 
BER READING 


GAIN 


ORDER OF WORKING HAND 




Right hand 1 


Left hand 


Preliminary 


Semi-final 


R 


8 
9 


31 

31 


18 
23 


R. L. 
R. L. 


L. R. 


Ir 


L. R. 



TABLE 



R. 

Ir. 



IHOURS WORKED 



Practiced hand Idle hand 



11 

17 



ORDER OF WORKING HAND 



Semi-final 



L. R. 
L. R. 



Final 



L. R. 
L. R. 



Section E. Working machine without "work sheets." Three 
reactors, A., Pi., and Pe. (Plates XX-XXII), after the regular 
preliminary tests with both hands, were worked on the machine 
patting four-place numbers into the machine without "work 
sheets" from which to read. The instructions were (1) to use 
any number they could think of; (2) varying the digits as much 
as possible; (3) covering the entire working keyboard, (4) always 
deciding upon the entire number before pressing any buttons, 
and (5) using no zero in the units column. The reactors worked 
diligently and conscientiously. There was, of course, no chance 
to check their work as to all points on which instruction was 



EXPERIMENTS ON TRANSFER OF TRAINING 



343 



given, but the numbers were well scattered as to selection, and 
as varied as could be expected. After this series of practice 
periods, working the machine without work sheets to be read, 
the semi-final tests in simple listing were made, yielding the 
results showed in table 9. Gain was made by both hands of 



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every reactor. For reactor A., the gain of the practice hand 
was nearly four times as great as that made by the "idle hand;" 
for Pi., and Pe., the gains made by the idle hands were greater 
than the gains made by the practiced hand. The order in which 
the hands were worked in the preliminary and semi-final tests 
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346 



WILBUR HARRINGTON NORCROSS 



reactor A., the order of working the hands was R. L., L. R. 
The right hand, being first in the preliminary test, made the 
poorest record, as would be expected. The left hand presum- 
ably shared some of the benefits of the right hand working in 
the preliminary test, and made a better record than the right 
hand. Following the working of the right hand on the machine 
without work sheets, the left hand was the first to work in the 
semi-final test, working on a test comparatively new. The 
right hand then followed, benefited by the practice of the left 
hand in the semi-finals, and made a better record than any 

TABLE 9 





HOURS WORKED 


PER CENT GAINED 


ORDER OF WORKING HAND 


REACTORS 


By practiced 
hand 


By idle hand 


Preliminary 


Semi-final 


A 


9 

10 

9 


R. 24 
R. 12 
R. 13 


L. 6§ 
L. 17 
L. 17 


R. L. 
L. R. 
R. L. 


L. R. 


Pi 


R. L. 


Pe 


R. L. 







TABLE 10 
Showing result of straight listing after "machine without sheets" work 





HOURS 
WORKED 


PER CENT GAINED 


ORDER OF WORKING HAND 




By practiced 
hand 


By idle hand 


Semi-final 


Finals 


A 


8 
8 
9 


R. 17 
R. 18 
R. 20 


L. 20 
L. 9 
L. 22 


L. R. 
R. L. 
R. L. 


R. L. 


Pi 

Pe 


R. L. 
R. L. 







Percentage calculated on records of preliminary tests. 

in the preliminary or semi-final. Such was not the order of work- 
ing the hands with reactors Pi., and Pe., and there is no corre- 
sponding gain. The idle hand of the training series was worked 
last in the semi-finals, and made larger gains than the hand 
working first in the semi-finals. 

After this work on the machine without work-sheets, the 
reactors continued at simple listing, the results of which are 
shown in table 10. The idle hand gained more than the prac- 
ticed hand in reactors A., and Pe., and less than the practiced 
hand with reactor Pi. 



EXPERIMENTS ON TRANSFER OF TRAINING 



347 



Section F. Observation without training in number reading. 
One reactor, Wl. (Plate XXIII), after the regular preliminary 
tests, acted as observer to Pi., in the work without work sheets, 
and consequently did not receive the benefits of training in read- 
ing the numbers as did the others who acted as observers. 3 After 
the semi-finals, WL, worked at straight listing. Table 11 gives 
a statement of the results. 

Following the period of observation, WL, worked at simple 
listing and adhered to a system of fingering which he had planned 
while watching Pi. work. At the very first, the subject experi- 
enced no little difficulty with this system, but held to it tena- 

TABLE 11 

Showing results of work of reactor W. L. 





NUMBER OF 
HOURS 


PER CENT GAINED 


ORDER OF WORKING 
HAND 




By right 
"hand 


By left hand 


Preliminary 


Semi-finals 


Observation 


10 
9 


14 
33* 


3 

25 f 


R. L. 


L. R. 








Semi-finals 


Finals 


Simple listing 


L. R. 


L. R. 







* Working. 
t Idle. 

ciously, and this doubtless accounts in part for the small per- 
centage of gain made by the left hand in the semi-final test. 
This same system of fingering was maintained by the right hand 
in all subsequent practice. The gain of 25 per cent made by 
the idle hand, following a practice period which netted a gain 
of 33 per cent to the hand which practiced, is about the same as 
the improvements made by the other reactors. The small per- 
centage of gain (3 per cent) following observations without 
reading work sheets, compared with gains made by reactors 
listed in the semi-finals of section B, suggests the value of number- 
reading training. 



8 See Section B. 



348 WILBUR HARRINGTON NORCROSS 

III. RESUME AND DISCUSSION OF DATA 

1. In every case of simple listing, there is improvement of 
the idle hand. 

2. In every case of observation, there is improvement of 
both hands : and when followed by simple listing, there is improve- 
ment of the idle hand as well as of the practiced hand. 

3. In every case of auditory listing, there is improvement of 
both hands, as shown by the semi-final test and specially of 
the hand which was idle in the auditory series. When followed 
by simple listing, the idle hand made improvements in the 
final tests. 

4. The reactors reading the numbers without working the 
machine showed improvement in both hands in the semi-final 
tests, and in subsequent simple listing, the idle hand showed 
marked improvement in the final tests. 

5. In the cases of reactors using the machine without work- 
sheets, the idle hand as well as the hand which worked showed 
improvement in the semi-final tests; and in the subsequent 
simple listing, both the practiced hand and the idle hand showed 
improvement in the final tests. 

Every case, therefore, presents positive evidence of "bilateral 
transfer of training." 

What is the explanation of this bilateral transfer of improve- 
ment? The following points may well be considered in answer 
to this question. 

1. The emotional factor is probably responsible in part. The 
anxious, nervous attitude of the preliminary testing has given 
way to a definite "set" for record, and hence in the semi-final 
tests, better control of motor reaction is maintained. 

2. General habits and conditions may have improved, e.g., 
more concentrated effort, greater ability to resist distracting 
factors, and less bodily fatigue. 

3. Is the transfer in part due to the fact that a motor impulse 
from the "higher centers" leading to set reactions with one hand, 
has acquired influence on the other hand? (Wissler and Richard- 
son (32), Davis (6)). The group practiced on the "machine 



EXPERIMENTS ON TRANSFER OF TRAINING 349 

without work sheets' ' (section E) should give evidence on this 
point. Here the training was directly on hand manipulation, 
plus the learning of the keyboard. The average of percentages 
of improvement to the idle hands of the reactors in this series 
of training, evidenced at the semi-finals, was 13f per cent. 
This group was trained on all the processes of simple listing 
except one, viz., the number-reading habit. They were directed 
to have in mind a definite number, and then put that number 
into the machine, and their statements are to the effect that the 
directions were followed. After the semi-final tests, simple 
listing was done by the hands which worked in the previous 
training series, resulting in improvement of 18 per cent as against 
16 \ per cent for the same hands in the semi-finals, but the idle 
hands in this last series made average gain of 16f per cent, 
contrasting with the gain of 13f per cent in the training series. 
This suggests that the training in the number reading habit 
leads to greater improvement with the idle hand than comes fco 
the idle hand through practicing the other hand in working the 
machine, which is true also of the practiced hand. 

4. Evidence that the influence of the "number reading" habit 
in improvement to the idle hand is even greater than hand train- 
ing, is to be found in the record of the group who were trained 
in "number reading without machine" (section D). The average 
improvement of the reactors in this group, based on the records 
of the semi-finals, is for each hand (since neither hand was 
worked) 31 per cent R., and 20^ per cent L. : average of both 
hands of all subjects being 25f per cent. Following the semi- 
finals, the reactors worked at simple listing, R., nine hours, 
and Ir. seven hours. At the finals, these reactors showed average 
gains to the working hands of 14 per cent, to the idle hands 11| 
per cent. Comparing these averages with those made by group 
E shows this fact : while in group E greater average improvement 
is made in the training course following the semi-finals, where 
number reading as well as hand manipulation was present, than 
was made in the training preliminary to the semi-finals where 
number reading was not present; in group D the greater average 
improvement was made at the semi-final following a training 

COMPARATIVE PSYCHOLOGY, VOL.. 1, NO. 4 



350 WILBUR HARRINGTON NORCROSS 

course where nuinber-reading was present in the training, though 
hand manipulation was absent, than was made in the finals, 
following a training course where both number reading and hand 
manipulation were present as elements in the task. The reactors 
trained in number reading without manipulation of the machine 
appear able to make better records when put to simple listing 
than reactors trained to manipulate the machine without number 
reading. 

In considering the records of group B, observers who were 
so placed that the}' could read the work sheets and hence were 
trained in number reading and were able also to learn the key- 
board and whose instructions were such that they would be 
led to identify the numbers of the w T ork sheets with the digit 
buttons on the keyboard (section B), we find average of improve- 
ment at the semi-finals almost equal to the records of group D, 
viz., R., 23| per cent, L., 25| per cent, average of both hands 
of all subjects 24| per cent. 

The average gain of the practiced hands in the simple listing 
following the semi-finals was 18 per cent, while the idle hand 
during this simple listing made average improvement of 17 per 
cent. 

5. The reactors who were given auditory training (section C) 
made at the semi-finals an average improvement to the idle 
hand of 3l| per cent; better percentage of improvement than 
that made by any other group, including those on simple listing. 
One reason that may be offered for this high percentage of 
improvement is the influence of the "urge" to speed due to the 
"pressure" of the reader. There is no time wasted between 
number listing in the auditory training and the habit of con- 
tinuous working was apparent when change was made to simple 
listing at the semi-finals. Furthermore, while auditory training 
did not include visual perception of numbers or number reading, 
there was given training in number grouping and aural number 
perception and spatial location of number groups with reference 
to the keyboard. There was some increase in the time records 
at the semi-finals, and the simple listing following the semi- 
finals never reached as low a time record as that reached by 
auditory listing, but no subject trained in auditory listing noticed 



EXPERIMENTS ON TRANSFER OF TRAINING 351 

any particular interference between the habit of auditory percep- 
tion of numbers and visual perception of numbers, though all 
thought simple listing was slower than auditory listing. 

IV. ERRORS 

Each subject was told at the beginning of his work that he 
would be graded for speed and accuracy in evaluating his work. 
With one exception, however, each subject seemed to place more 
emphasis on the attainment of speed than on accuracy, and 
even when attention was called to the prevalence of errors, no 
apparent difference was noted. 

There were nine kinds of errors made by the various subjects 
throughout the entire course of work. 

a. Wrong digit, e.g., 5972 written for 6972. 

b. Interchanging two digits, e.g., 3764 written for 3746. 

c. Interchanging three digits, e.g., 3674 written for 3746. 

d. Where wrong row of keyboard was used, e.g., 6606 written 
for 7707. 

e. Omitting one digit. 

/. Omitting an entire number. 

g. Getting "out of bounds," i.e., not using the columns of 
digits prescribed for use but a column to the left or right of such 
prescribed columns. 

h. Putting in some numbers not on the work sheet (occurred 
one time) . 

u Repeating a number. 

For drawing the error curve (on the sheet with the learning 
curve), it was advisable, if possible, to reduce these various 
errors to a common factor, and while the scheme used does not 
pretend to be perfect, it is the one appearing most available. 
All the errors listed above were reduced to terms of "a" excepting 
"f 'and "i," which were held as equal and as of the same character. 

In the scheme, then, b equals two a's; c equals three a's; 
d equals four a's; e equals one a; g equals one a; h equals four a's. 
The error curves are plotted accordingly, allowing one square 
for each a. Where /'s and i's appear, the number are expressed 
in terms of /'s. 



352 WILBUR HARRINGTON NORCROSS 

Causes of errors 

The main cause of the inaccuracy in the work appears to be 
the desire to acquire and maintain speed. Hence, when the 
wrong digit was put in the machine, the power to inhibit the 
movement to press the print bar and to correct the mistake was 
frequently lacking, because of the compulsion of the "set for 
speed." Irrespective of speed, it was no difficult task to lose 
one's place on the work sheet, which accounts for the /'s and t's. 
Why there should be any interchanging of digits, e.g., &'s and 
c's, is a more complicated question. There is a tendency to 
group the digit pressing: e.g., 1928 is frequently written by 
pressing the digit of the thousands column 1, next the digit of 
the tens column 2, both at the bottom of the keyboard, and 
then 9 and 8 which are at the top of the keyboard. (This is 
the usual bank clerk's method.) In this manner of working 
the keyboard, may be found in part the reason for 6's and c's. 
Failure to see the number as a unit group and reading it as a 
group of units without stressing the order of the units is also 
partly responsible for &'s and c's. 

Errors d, e and g were undoubtedly due largely to the impulse 
for speed, d and g being very rare and e occurring at times when 
the button for the proper digit had been pressed before the 
printing of the previous number was fully completed, and the 
button pressed by the reactor was released by the printing oper- 
ation, without the knowledge of the reactor. This error is not 
really so chargeable to the reactor as it is due to the lack of speed 
of the machine. Accurate work was relatively rare. 

In estimating the accuracy of the work of each sheet, the same 
scheme was followed as was used in plotting the error curves. 
Since each day had from four to six sheets, there are, as the 
largest number of grades of accuracy for each day, four to six 
according to the number of sheets used. If every sheet were 
accurate the minimum number of grades of accuracy would be 
one. (All the sheets were graded for relative accuracy by days 
and were compared with the speed grades of the same sheets.) 
The sheets of each day's work were graded for speed by the day. 



EXPERIMENTS ON TRANSFER OF TRAINING 



353 



It is obvious that the greatest number of speed grades would 
be six and the smallest number would be one for each day's work. 
The relative speed and accuracy grades are for each particular 
day's work and not inter comparable. Grade "1" in speed 
means that such a sheet was done as rapidly as, or more rapidly 
than, any other or all other sheets for that day, and grade "1" 
in accuracy means that such a sheet was as accurate as, or more 
nearly accurate than, any or all other sheets done that day. 
Accuracy grades, therefore, are relative for each day, and are 
not based on absolute accuracy as a standard. 

TABLE 12 









RELATIVE ACCURACY 






SPEED GRADES 














l 


2 


3 


4 


5 


6 


1 


184 


78 


31 


41 


12 





2 


121 


106 


73 


39 


11 


4 


3 


131 


105 


67 


39 


9 


3 


4 


114 


103 


44 


35 


15 


1 


5 


98 


74 


67 


27 


11 


1 


6 


45 


46 


44 


22 


4 


1 





TABLE 13 
Summary of speed and accuracy scores. 


Total of 312 days 


SHEET 


MOST ACCURATE 


LEAST ACCURATE 


Fastest 


184 
103 


82 


Slowest 


75 







Table 12 presents the totals, the columns marked "S" indi- 
cating the relative speed grades for the day's work, and columns 
marked "A" indicating the relative accuracy for the same sheets. 
From this table, it is apparent that 184 received first grade in 
accuracy and speed for their individual days: the highest score 
made in comparative speed and accuracy. The sheets having 
the highest speed grades, i.e., which were the slowest done, 
included also the smallest number graded accuracy first grade. 
That is to say, the slowest sheets included the smallest number 
receiving the most accurate grade. 



354 WILBUR HARRINGTON NORCROSS 

Table 13 is based on the work of 312 days on which but one 
hand, either right or left, was worked, and the same amount of 
work was done by each hand with the exception that one day 
one subject was able to do only five instead of six sheets. While 
no sheet graded "1" in speed was graded "6" in accuracy accord- 
ing to the preceding table, this does not mean that at no time 
was the fastest sheet of the day the most inaccurate, since it was 
relatively rare to have six grades of accuracy in a day's work. 
Only ten times in a total of 1871 sheets, requiring 312 days, did 
this occur. But, while the fastest sheet was scored 184 times 
as having the highest grade of accuracy, it was scored 82 times 
as having the lowest score of accuracy, and the slowest sheet 
actually was the most accurate 103 times. The fastest sheets 
were most inaccurate 82 times and the slowest sheets most 
inaccurate 75 times. The apparent but not real discrepancy 
in the table is due to the fact that many times in the work of 
the various days there were ties in the accuracy and speed 
scores. Particularly was this true with reactor H., who cared 
more for accuracy than for speed, and made by far the least 
number of errors. 

A comparison of the errors made in the succeeding days' work 
reveals this fact: increase of speed is accompanied with a slight 
improvement in accuracy in the work of thirteen reactors; five 
reactors tend to increase in inaccuracy as speed increases; the 
error curves of five reactors are fairly level. The percentage 
of improvement in accuracy in the thirteen cases cited above, 
however, is very much less than the percentage of improvement 
in speed. 

If we take the error record of the first day's work of each 
reactor, and compare it with the error record of the last day's 
work of each reactor, the following facts appear: twelve reactors 
made fewer errors on their last day than on their first day; eleven 
reactors made more errors on that last day's work than on their 
first day's work. In the aggregate there were made on the first 
day's work 209 a's and 23 f's, and on the last day's work, 233 
a's and 72 f's. The difficulty of keeping the proper place on the 
work sheet is made apparent in this increase in the errors marked 



EXPERIMENTS ON TRANSFER OF TRAINING 355 

/, nineteen out of twenty-three reactors having made this kind 
of error at least once on their last day of work. 

It is clear that special effort to attain speed results in increased 
inaccuracy with eleven out of twenty-three reactors, working 
on the adding machine, and absolute accuracy was realized by 
none of the reactors. Though in the instructions, emphasis 
was laid as much upon accuracy as upon the speed, the increase 
in speed was much greater than the increase in accuracy. Wells 
(30) concludes that when attention is aimed at excessive speed 
in typewriting, more errors occur: and likewise, with extreme 
carefulness, errors increase: but thero appears to be a general 
positive correlation between speed and accuracy. 

Thorndike (24) finds that the slowest reactors working in 
addition make more errors than reactors who are most rapid. 
"The same individual may lose in precision by increasing his 
speed (though he will not always do so), but the sort of individual 
who is rapid, will tend to be accurate also." Woodworth (33), 
in relating speed to accuracy, thinks there is a lower limit beyond 
which decrease in speed does not conduce to accuracy in volun- 
tary movements, and at the upper end, there is a limit beyond 
which increase in speed does not produce further increase in 
inaccuracy. The analysis of the data of this investigation agrees 
with these general conclusions. 4 

By averaging the time records and the error records of each 
reactor's work, and applying the Spearman method of rank, 
the correlation of grades of speed and accuracy is 0.1147 (18). 

Optimal phase 

1. Distribution of sheets according to speed in each day's 
work. In grouping the work on the basis of relative speed for 
the sheets of each day's work, the preliminary, semi-final and 
final tests were eliminated because on these days (a) only four 
sheets were used, and (b) both hands were practiced on the 
machine. Consequently, table 14 presents data of those days' 

4 For absence of correlation of speed and accuracy, see also Thorndike and 
Woodworth (25). 



356 



WILBUR HARRINGTON NORCROSS 



work, with one hand, on which six sheets were worked, with the 
exception of E., who, on one day, worked only five sheets. Each 
sheet in each day's work was graded for speed for that day, 
according to the time in which it was done. Since there were 
six sheets for each day, there may be six speed grades for that 
day, or less than six speed grades, if the time required for any 
of the sheets tied. The fastest speed is graded "1" which means 
as fast as, or faster than, any other for that day. Succeeding 
digits represent grades of decreased speed. 

The first sheet worked was the fastest the next to the least 
number of times. It was the slowest the greatest number 
of times. The last sheet was the fastest the greatest number 
of times, and the slowest the least number of times. 









TABLE 14 
















SPEED 


GRADES 










SHEET 












TOTAL 




l 
52 


2 


3 


4 


5 


6 






1 


51 


50 


63 


72 


62 


350 




2 


61 


58 


78 


74 


56 


23 


350 




3 


44 


60 


91 


74 


55 


26 


350 




4 


72 


75 


74 


44 


52 


33 


350 




5 


72 


94 


58 


54 


49 


23 


350 




6 


97 
398 


65 


63 


59 


45 


20 


349 


Total 


in each speed grade. . . 


403 


414 


368 


329 


187 





Because of ties, 62 in the sixth grade does not represent all 
of the first sheets that were actually the slowest of the day's 
run, for actually 110 times the first sheet took the longest time 
of 350 days; and for the same reason, 20 does not count all the 
"sixth" sheets that actually took the longest time of the day 
on which they were done, that number actually being 44. It 
is obvious that if two sheets of one day's work were done in 
the same time, they would tie for a speed grade. Such ties make 
the number of speed grades more or less than the number of 
sheets used. 

If we group the sheets in respect to speed in two classes, the 
fastest and the slowest, and include in the fastest the sheets 



EXPERIMENTS ON TRANSFER OF TRAINING 



357 



which received speed grades 1, 2, 3, and include in the slowest 
the sheets which received speed grades 4, 5, 6, the distribution 
of the sheets in these two speed grades totals as in table 15. 

From this it is apparent that the tendency for greatest speed 
is found toward the end of the hour's work rather than at its 
beginning. This tendency was noted by Swift (22), who found 
that a " warming up process" was usually necessary, and conse- 
quently, the best scores as a rule were not the first scores of a 
day's series. Commonly, when the score was low enough to 
eliminate the effect of fatigue, the one or more high scores after 
the "wanning up" period were followed by poorer scores, which 
again yielded to higher scores toward the end of the series. 
Book (3), in analyzing the drum records of typewriting practice, 
finds that for the middle or last part of the writing of almost 

TABLE 15 



SHEET 






SPEED 


GRADES 






TOTAL 




l 


2 


3 


4 


5 


6 




Fastest 


153 
197 


197 
153 


195 
154 


221 

129 


224 
126 


225 
125 


1215 


Slowest 


884 







every test, strokes come closer together on the records: while 
daily relearning and warming up were usually present, still, 
the first and last minutes were most productive. 

2. Spurts. Marked variation in the speeds of operation of 
the machine in simple listing of separate sheets was apparent. 
Initial spurts, medial spurts and final spurts, occurred in the 
work of all reactors. Accurate account of these variations in 
speed was taken in the cases of the following reactors: E., F., 
Li., Mc, N., P. A time record in seconds, on a motor-driven 
kymograph, was made by trie Johns Hopkins' Psychological 
Laboratory pendulum. The print-bar operations, marking the 
completion of the fisting of one four-place number were registered 
on a kymograph's drum by an electro-magnetic marker. The 
electro magnet was in circuit with a simple contact attachment 
fastened to the under side of the print bar. When the print 
bar was pressed down to print the numbers, the circuit was 



358 



WILBUR HARRINGTON NORCROSS 



broken and the stylus made its record on the kymograph, on a 
line parallel to the line, and separated from it by about one- 
fourth of an inch. The work-unit in this part of the test was 
the work strip, i.e., forty-five four-place numbers (see page 322). 
It was thus simply a matter of counting the seconds required 
to list the first, second and last thirds of the work strip. Each 
day's work consisted of six work sheets, i.e., twelve work strips. 
Time was counted from the word "go" to the last print bar 
impression. In table 16, the figures at the head of the column 
represent the order of durations of the thirds of each strip, e.g., 



TABLE If 





E. 


Fi. 


Li. 


Mc. 


N. 


P. 


TOTAL 


1 <2 <3 


22 


26 


5 


30 


36 


35 


154 


1 < 3 < 2 


22 


27 


7 


37 


31 


21 


145 


2 < 1 < 3 


9 


17 


2 


25 


20 


19 


92 


2 < 3 < 1 


5 


9 


1 


15 


18 


7 


55 


3 < 1 <2 


8 


9 


3 


17 


27 


8 


72 


3 <2 < 1 


3 


7 


2 


10 


17 


12 


51 


1 = 2 <3 


6 


7 


1 


11 


16 


6 


47 


1 = 3 < 2 


5 


2 





6 


16 


6 


35 


2 < 1 = 3 


4 


5 





4 


5 


6 


24 


1 < 2 = 3 


7 


5 


4 


9 


17 


1 


53 


2 = 3 < 1 


2 


4 





5 


12 





23 


3 < 1 = 2 


1 


2 


2 


3 


9 


1 


18 


1=2 = 3 





1 








4 


1 


6 


Total 


94 


121 


27 


172 


228 


133 


775 







1 < 2 < 3 mean that the first third was the fastest third of the 
strip, and the last third was the slowest third; the other con- 
ventional signs are easily understood. The numbers in each 
column represent the number of times the rank order of thirds 
signified by the signs at the head of the columns occurred in the 
work of the various reactors. 

Table 16 shows that the first third of the work strip was faster 
than the second and third thirds 352 times out of 775 work 
strips, clearly indicating the presence of initial spurts. The 
second third is faster than the first and third thirds 171 times, 
and the third third is faster than the first and second thirds 



EXPERIMENTS ON TRANSFER OF TRAINING 359 

141 times out of 775 work strips. The first third is faster than 
the second third 459 times, ties the second third 71 times, and is 
slower than the second third 245 times out of a total of 775 
strips. The first is faster than the last third 491 times, ties the 
last third 65 times, and is slower than the last third 219 times 
out of 775 strios. The second third is faster than the last third 
372 times, ties the last third 82 times, and is slower than the 
last third 321 times out of 775 strips. The evident conclusion 
is that the fastest speed is reached in the initial third of the 
work-units of the period, and the tendency to slow down persists 
through the entire work-unit, though in many cases, the medial 
and final spurts are present. This agrees with Wells (29) in 
his findings in the tapping test, and likewise with Chapman (4) 
in his investigation in addition, and with the results of the study 
on making hand-movements by Leuba and Hyde (13). 

Comparing these results with the results of section 1 (supra), 
the following conclusions are warranted: 1. When the work of 
a period consists of an equal number of similar units, there is a 
tendency to perform the units toward the close of the period 
more rapidly than at the beginning of the period; 2. There is 
a tendency to perform the initial thirds of these individual 
units of the work more rapidly than the second and last thirds, 
the speed decreasing toward the close of the unit, though medial 
and final spurts are present. 

The learning curve 

Each large square on the base line of the curves signifies 
one day's work. The smaller squares indicate the separate 
sheets done on each day. The vertical line is the time line, 
each small square signifying five seconds. On the base line 
also the error curve is plotted according to the scheme detailed 
on page 351. 

The learning curves are discontinuous, the breaks in the lines 
occurring when a change is made (a) from one hand to the 
other, or (b) from a special kind of training to simple listing. 
The letters "R" and "L" stand at the beginning of the curves 
for the right and left hands respectively. 



360 WILBUR HARRINGTON NORCROSS 

One characteristic of all the curves is the rapidity of descent 
for the first day's work, irrespective of the order of working the 
hands. The improvement of the first day is frequently much 
more than the total improvement of all succeeding days. After 
the first day's work, the curve has a very gradual descent. 

Considerable irregularity in the records of the individual sheets 
for the individual days is apparent. Since the time for the sheets 
was measured in minutes and seconds, relatively slight variations 
of absolute time, e.g., fifteen seconds, would make considerable 
deviation in the curve. The general trend of succeeding days 
is downward in spite of apparent irregularity of the curve of 
the individual days. 

Evidence for "plateaus" is not very strong. In the cases of 
twelve reactors, very slight suggestions of leveling occur, lasting 
only three to four days, except with reactor N., when the last 
seven days' work was fairly on a time level. Reactor P., in 
the last two days' work, actually registered a loss in speed. 

The practice period, in most cases being from nine to ten 
hours, was not long enough to reach a definite level of attain- 
ment which would require special effort to surpass. Reactors 
N., and P., whose practice included many more hours than the 
usual amount of work, did reach such levels. 

Reactors at the beginning of a period occasionally reported 
headache, cold, etc., but such conditions did not seem to affect 
the speed records of that day. For example, H., did not sleep 
well the night preceding his eighteenth day, because of conditions 
in the boarding house, and had a headache on that day; but 
his work for that day did not seem to have been affected thereby 
when compared with the previous and following days. 

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS 

1. The reactors showed a noticeable degree of nervousness, 
exception Lo., who had had considerable experience in laboratory 
experiments prior to serving as a reactor in this experiment. 
This nervousness was greatly reduced by the end of the first 
day's work, and rarely increased thereafter. The change from 



EXPERIMENTS ON TRANSFER OF TRAINING 361 

a training course to the semi-final test in sections B., C, D. 
and E. aroused to a small degree an element of nervousness 
which disappeared before the end of the day's work. 

2. Each reactor began the work of simple listing by reading 
the numbers, with marked lip movements, some even audibly 
pronouncing the words. Lo. stopped this practice by the end 
of the first day's work, showing rare recurrences of the same. 
With the other reactors, it persisted to varying lengths, continu- 
ing throughout the work with reactors Pe., Ir., K., H. and Wl. 
Coincident with the change in lip movements in reading the 
numbers, there appeared the practice of reading the entire 
number at one glance. This habit was developed quite fully 
by all reactors except Mc, who regularly took the second glance 
to complete the reading of the numbers. 

3. Each reactor, excepting Lo., used the forefinger to press 
the digit buttons on the first day of the work, Lo. using several 
fingers from the beginning. In every case except two, F. and 
H., the progress of the work was accompanied by learning to 
use two or more fingers, one reactor, C, using the thumb and 
all the fingers in a regular manner before the close of the practice 
period. F. and H. never used any finger other than the fore- 
finger. The adoption of new fingering habits was concomitant 
with marked slowing of work in the cases of We. and W., in their 
semifinals, who had devised their own system of fingering while 
observing. Less noticeable results accompanied the habit of 
using more than one finger with the other reactors. 

4. Reactors are not good judges of the speed of their work; 
frequently reactors would say that they felt they were not making 
as good speed on particular sheets as they had made on previous 
sheets of the day or the previous days. In most cases where 
such comments were made, the reactor was mistaken. Specu- 
lations about speed attainments were discouraged, but when 
they were made, they were almost invariably wrong, even 
though they seemed to be sincerely offered, and not for the purpose 
of learning about the speed record. 



3G2 WILBUR HARRINGTON NORCROSS 

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die Uebung der Glieder der einen Seite die der andern zugleich mit- 
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EXPERIMENTS ON TRANSFER OF TRAINING 363 

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VITA 

Wilbur Harrington Norcross was born June 28, 1882, at 
Ralston, in the state of Pennsylvania. He received his ele- 
mentary education in the Williamsport Dickinson Seminary, 
from which he graduated in 1902. He received the degree of 
A.B. from Dickinson College at Carlisle, Penns} r lvania, in 1907, 
and the degree of A.M. in 1913. From 1908 to 1914 he taught 
Latin and Greek in Dickinson Seminary, and was Dean of that 
school during the years 1912-1914. He was a graduate student 
in the Johns Hopkins University during the years 1914-1916, 
and the Summer Sessions of 1915 and 1916. He was appointed 
to a University Fellowship for the year 1916-1917, but resigned 
to take the position of Associate Professor of Psychology, Philos- 
ophy and Education in Dickinson College. On account of the 
emergency for which he was needed at that Institution, he was 
permitted by the Board of University Studies to complete his 
dissertation in absentia. He was commissioned in the Sanitary 
Corps of the United States Army in 1918, and was engaged in 
psychological work in aviation under the command of Major 
Dunlap. The candidate conducted the research reported in 
this dissertation under the direction of Professor Knight Dunlap, 
and pursued courses in psychology under Professor Dunlap 
and Professor John B. Watson, in education under Professor 
Buchner, and in Philosophy under Professor A. O. Lovejoy. 



